Ann Arbor, Michigan-based aviation fuel supplier Avfuel announced it has expanded its blended Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) offerings across the Southeastern U.S. The blends have a target of 30% neat SAF to 70% conventional jet fuel. Avfuel has teamed with Valero Marketing and Supply Co., which is a subsidiary of Valero Energy Corp.
Good luck with that expensive moonshine. Grain should be used for food for people and livestock, not for aviation fuel. Why not just call SAF “VSF” instead, Virtue Signaling Fools.
Since SAF only exists thanks to fear-mongering over the myth of man-made climate change, massive government subsidies and coercion, it is doomed to failure from the start. See the recent news on German Lilium, did very well, until the government money ran out.
I have no facts to back this up, but it wouldn’t surprise me if the production of 1 gallon of SAF would require more than 1 gallon of diesel to produce, similarly to the production of ethanol. I have a question, is the thermodynamic content (if that’s the description to use, not sure) of a gallon SAF equivalent to a gallon of jetfuel? In the case of ethanol compared to gasoline, it definitely is not. Second question, is this demand for feedstock to produce SAF putting an upward price pressure on the feedstock that farmers have to buy for their livestock? What would be the incentive for a corporate pilot like myself (retired) to buy SAF unless it was cheaper than jetfuel?
I could easily get behind SAF IF and only if it was restricted to waste HCs as feedstock and no government subsidies to distort market. Note that the SAF in this article is (at least partly) made from waste materials.
No, it does NOT work; that’s why resources consumed, chemical equations and yields are never mentioned. Like strip mining for lithium, using up arable farm land and potable water actually cause more harm than “good”.
Being familiar with the Valero process for production of SAF, maybe some clarifications might be in order. Kent, the Valero process recycles waste cooking oils and beef tallow from slaughterhouses. It uses no grain or any other food stock to compete with groceries. It utilizes a hydrocracking process similar to those used in standard diesel/jet fuel production in refineries. Dennis C, the only energy difference between their SAF process and standard oil-based jet fuel is the method of feedstock delivery to the refinery (rail as opposed to pipeline). As for its energy content, it is almost identical to oil-based jet. Finally, AJ, while some processes for SAF production may cause waste, the hydrocracker process actually cleans up a waste stream. The disposal of used cooling oils and the processing of beef tallow are both potential pollutants and difficult to dispose of. By reprocessing them into a useable product, they eliminate that disposal headache.
Full disclosure, I do not work for Valero, but I was involved in the development of the processing unit they operate. The process works well and produces a very clean diesel grade material that can be used directly as a road-grade diesel fuel with no modifications. I was not involved in any additional processing for use as a jet fuel substitute, so I cannot comment on that aspect. Both Kent and AJ have valid comments regarding other processes (mostly saponification) to produce an SAF material that utilizes soybean or similar vegetable oils that could otherwise be used as food components. That process results in a fuel that is normally mixed 10% to 90% regular jet fuel to avoid possible gelling of the fuel at low temperatures. The hydro process does not have that issue. While I fully support using SAF in reducing the carbon footprint of jet fuel, I agree that it has significant limitations in being able to make much of an overall impact. Considering the millions of gallons of jet fuel consumed by airlines annually, there is only so much used cooking oil or beef processing waste available.
Cooking oils and rendering waste products are already being used 100% by industries.
You would need a lot more cows and a lot more cooking for this new venture.
How is that “sustainable” or scalable or even eco-frienfly?